So it’s better to have yet another avenue for shady developers to take advantage of “whales” via loot boxes and in game consumables - the very thing that the government is going after?
What jury is going to care that Epic can’t sell useless virtual currency and make a larger profit?
If Epic can make phones more open first, and then later the government regulates loot and pay-to-win like gambling is already regulated, then isn't that a win for the public?
Not if the same public has to deal with the same insecurity and vulnerabilities that iOS was designed to prevent.
Only geeks care about “openness”, ordinary people don’t have a problem with any app that Apple is blocking besides probably MS’s streaming game system.
Epic itself released a buggy installer that caused a security vulnerability. Do you really want them to be the poster child?
Out of all the problems that the App Store has. There are other options that would be better for the average consumer and better for the developer.
1. 30% is way too high for any service or app that has marginal cost. If Apple is going to force in app payments as option for those types of apps, it should allow Apple Pay (standard credit card processing fees $0.30 per transaction + 2-3%)
2. Any productivity app should be allowed to have the same “reader app” exemption.
3. I would be okay if any app that has out of store payments not showing up in the store unless the user specifically searches for it by name or navigates via an external link. That means Apple had nothing to do with app discovery.
4. Non game apps that are subscription based start off at 15%
5. Allow upgrade pricing.
6. Allow a scaling percentage. The more you bring Apple, the less of a percentage you take.
7. Any game that only has a one time in app purchase to unlock the game from demo to full version should be able to pay a lower percentage. This is what Apple should be encouraging.
Mix and match any of these suggestions. They are more fair to developers.
Basecamp’s story is irrelevant if they’re forced into bankruptcy before they get the chance to tell it where it makes a difference.
We’re not watching a feel good movie where the righteous little guy prevails. They’d get squashed and tossed aside, and they know it.